


Bedridden

by poor_sickies



Series: Bad Things Happen [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Broken Bones, Gen, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 01:18:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17673668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poor_sickies/pseuds/poor_sickies
Summary: After a bad fracture in his leg, Keith is supposedly confined to bed rest. Too bad the universe can't give him the break he needs.





	Bedridden

 

“Exit in twenty ticks,” Pidge informs through the comms. 

“Be careful,” Shiro’s voice sounds, low and calculated, “you’ve got three sentries coming down the left hall.”

“We leave like we got in, right?” Lance asks, tiptoeing close to the wall, behind Pidge, bayard in hand, ready to fire.

“Yes, Lance,” Keith whispers from behind him, “leave through the outer vent, and into Green.”

“Yeah, and we better hurry, her cloaking ability won’t hold for much longer,” Pidge says, looking both ways at the empty hall. “Come on!”

The three of them run over to the next corner, stopping in front of an interface. With her wrist gauntlet, Pidge unlocks it, and the first door to the airlock opens.

They move ahead and wait for it for it to close behind them before unlocking the next one. Lance is still holding his bayard, looking out for any sentries that could have seen them. The airlock opens, letting the cold air of space hit their suits, and they hold on to the rail.

“Alright, fire jetpacks, we’re going!” Pidge yells, jumping forward, “Green is right here, just follow me!”

Lance goes right after, while Pidge keeps moving upward, towards Green. Keith looks over his shoulder, to check the exit one last time. The coast seems clear, so he lets go of the rail and turns on his jetpack for a quick jump.

Something stops him midair.

It’s a sentry, and he’s holding on to Keith’s foot.  

“Shit!”

The robot pulls him down, and grabs his knee, metallic fingers digging up on the soft part of the back of his knee, unprotected by the armor. It pulls, twisting inwards to try to keep Keith still.

Keith squirms, trying to free himself, knee twisting painfully under the robot’s grasp.

“Lance!”

Lance turns around quickly from where he is, and his eyes widen as he realizes what’s going on.

“Oh no.”

He’s not too far from Keith, but not close enough to afford to waste time. Bayard on his shoulder, he closes his left eye and takes a shot.

It goes right to the sentry’s chest, and it drops to the floor.

It should have been a moment of great relief for Keith, if only the sentries weren’t so heavy, and if he hadn’t turned on his jetpack.

He screams when his knee twists with an audible crack, and he feels something inside tear.

“Keith!” Lance exclaims, lunging forward to grab his hand. “I didn’t shoot you, did I? Are you okay?”

Keith squeezes his eyes shut, clenching his teeth, and shakes his head.  

“M-My knee… I think I twisted it - aagh-”

It’s still not ideal, but Lance breathes a sigh of relief. At least he didn’t shoot his teammate. Keith doesn’t seem to be in great condition, but they’ve both had more serious injuries than a twisted joint. Deactivating his bayard, he places a hand on Keith’s back to guide him.

“Okay, okay, let’s get to the Lion, Green is-”

Lance looks around.

They don’t know where Green is. 

“Pidge!” Lance yells into the comms. “Where are you?!” He tries to hold Keith closer, pulling his wrist and grabbing onto his arm, as the void attempts to make them drift away.

“Right here, lance, we’re still invisible, remember, I just have to-“

BONK

Keith lets out a scream and curls up immediately, clutching at his left ankle.

“What the hell?!”

“Get in!!”

The green lion becomes visible in an instant, and Lance drags Keith inside, not too easily with only the strength of his jetpack, but he decides whatever is wrong with Keith, it will have to be taken care of later, or else they would be dealing with the Galra ship shooting at them.

Inside Green, the gravity is back to normal. Hooking Keith’s arm around his neck, he helps him limp to the back of the cockpit, behind Pidge’s pilot chair.

Keith slowly slides down, until he’s sitting on the floor, left leg stretched out in front of him. He takes his helmet off with clumsy shaking hands and screws his eyes shut, his jaw tightening with pain.

“Keith!” Lance lowers himself next to him on the floor, a hand on his shoulder. “It hit you…”

“Just get me to the castle,” Keith gasps, trying to take deep breaths.

“What happened?!” Pidge demands from the pilot seat, inserting the coordinates to the Castle.

“Green hit Keith, after a sentry hurt his leg,” Lance blurts out, as he removes Keith’s knee plate.

Keith’s eyes roll back with a groan. The black fabric doesn’t accuse blood, but to say that the joint is misplaced is a bit of an euphemism. The kneecap is at least a few centimeters off from where it should be, towards the inside of his leg, making the rest of it lay awkwardly of the floor.

“What?! Is he okay?”

Lance tries to rotate Keith’s tight, to inspect it closely, but Keith lets out a hiss, and he stops. “He’s gonna need a cryopod.”

Pidge nods and pushes her controls forward, making the lion go faster.

“Where did Green hit you?” Lance asks Keith quietly, “was it here too?”

Keith shakes his head. “Ankle.”

Lance nods and looks ahead at Pidge’s direction. “We have a visual on the castle, should take a couple of minutes to get there,” he says to Keith, “think you can manage for that long?”

Keith nods, with a frown, and leans back, trying to even out his breathing.

“What is going on?!”

“Shiro!” Pidge exclaims, “we’re heading back now-“

“I lost communication with you, I heard screams, is everything okay?”

“Keith needs a cryopod,” Lance explains, “he messed up his knee.”

 “Understood,” Shiro says, “I’ll be waiting at the hangar.”

*

Lance nudges Keith’s shoulder with a gentle push.

“We’re here buddy, let’s get you to a cryopod.”

Keith nods. His body seems insistent on staying still, as if gravity itself is pulling him down, pinning him to the floor. He’s no stranger to the end of an adrenaline rush, but he will never get used to it.

He slowly pushes himself up with Lance’s help, gasping as the pain in his knee flares up.

“Take it easy, let me help.”

Lance puts Keith’s left arm around his neck, like earlier, and they both move slowly towards the exit ramp. With all of his cocky and cool behavior, Lance is almost surprisingly gentle and patient, and Keith would undoubtedly appreciate it more, wasn’t his ankle throbbing this much.

“What happened? Is he okay?” Shiro asks from outside, rushing to Keith’s side.

“Green hit him,” Lance explains, as Shiro grabs Keith’s other arm to hook around his neck.

Shiro stops dead in his tracks to look at Lance.

“The  _lion_?!”

“Yeah, cloak mode and all that.”

The three of them climb down Greens ramp, all the way across the hangar, to the infirmary. Shiro keeps stopping at times, to check on Keith, occasionally adjusting his grip on Keith’s waist. Keith tries to keep his breath steady, following along with Shiro and Lance, but his stomach tells him otherwise. He’s already sweating, cold prickles joining together underneath his black suit and matting his hair. He swallows back the nausea and tries not to think about it.

But as soon as they arrive at the infirmary, he can’t hold it anymore. With a quick push to Shiro, he leans over the small sink by the entrance and vomits, hands gripping the bowel to stay upright.

Shiro is quick to run to his side, hands around his waist to support him, and Lance adjusts his position as well.

“Do you think you’re done?” Coran asks from behind him when it stops. He’s still hunched over the sink, energy gone, shivering as a naked rat with sweat matting his hair.

The nausea remains, but Keith doesn’t feel like throwing up anymore. He shakes his head.

“Put him in that bed,” Coran instructs, walking towards the storage closets.

“Bed? Coran, he needs a cryopod, his leg is broken,” Shiro says with a frown.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Coran says sadly, orange eyebrows tilting outwards, “the power supplier for the cryopods is broken, and we need ultranium to get a new one.”

Lance winces, glancing at Keith’s knee. “So what do we do?”

“Treat him the old-fashioned way, “Shiro sighs.

*

It’s a monumental relief laying back with his leg still and his head on the pillow.

The nausea still makes the room spin a little, but Keith feels steadier, and not having weight added on his knee makes the pain subside a little.

Coran and Shiro are hovering over him, and Lance has pushed a chair to sit by his side. Between the three of them, they had removed his armor easily, but taking off the under suit had made Keith move much more than what was comfortable, and now he’s left on his underwear, shivering with the cold air of the infirmary. Shiro shoots him an apologetic look, before grabbing one of the thin blankets they kept on the cupboards, and throwing it around Keith’s shoulders. Keith grabs it, pulling it tighter, rubbing his arms to warm up.

A quick scan confirms a nasty fracture in the ankle, a torn anterior ligament on his knee, and a spiral fracture on the upper tibia.

“We need to reset the knee,” Shiro points out, almost staring into nothingness with a sad grimace, trying not to think about how much it would hurt Keith.

“I’ll do it,” Coran pipes in, quietly “could one of you bring Keith’s pajamas here?

“What?” Keith asks, confused, “why?”

“It’s best if you stay here for the night, Keith,” Coran explains, “those injuries are not to be taken lightly.”

“I can sleep in my room,” he argues moodily, crossing his arms across his chest. Keith can’t exactly pinpoint why he’s so opposed to the idea, but the prospect of staying here on his own all night makes him uneasy. He wants his leg to stop hurting and go to his room to take a nap. Not this.

“All the medical supplies are here,” Shiro sighs, leaning close to Keith with a comforting hand on his back, “it’s just in case something happens.”

“And with the cast you’ll have fitted, it’s not like you’re able to walk too far.”

“Cast?” Keith asks, suddenly resembling a much younger version of him, eyes wide and looking up.

“You broke your leg,” Lance shrugs, attempting to offer an explanation. Keith rolls his eyes and looks back at Coran.

“Can’t you just…leave it? Until the cryopods are back up?” He insists.

“Eh, I don’t think so. We can’t risk your bones healing wrong, and the cast is hard enough to protect it.”

Keith sighs, defeated.

Coran gives him an anesthetic injection, and with Shiro’s help they reset the kneecap. He almost doesn’t notice, from how worn down he is. It hurts a little, but the injection dulls it to an acceptable range.

After that, he lays back on the bed, exhausted, while Coran prepares the splinter and the cast. He tries closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, but his leg hurts. After so many times when the cryopods had saved them so much time and pain, it really feels like a hassle having his leg broken like this and having to deal with it like he would back on Earth.

Lance eventually comes back with Keith’s pajamas, the red robes and lion slippers he rarely used (not because he didn’t like them, he just usually slept in his underwear). Coran is finally done with the cast, that ends just above Keith’s knee, so he dresses himself, welcoming the warm feeling of the clothes. He’s able to dress the top part, but bending down is rather exerting at the moment, so Shiro helps him with his pants.

Coran comes back with two pillows under his arm, and Shiro helps Keith laying back, while Coran lifts Keith’s broken leg.

“You will have to keep your leg elevated like this, as much as you can, until the cryopods are back up and running,” Coran explains, placing the pillows under the cast. “It would probably be best if you take some painkillers now, or else it might take you a while to go to sleep.” He hands Keith a small pill and a glass of water, which Keith downs quickly, before laying back down.

“It’s 11 PM, Earth hours, I think I’m gonna head to bed,” Lance yawns, before turning to Keith. “Think you’ll be okay?”

Keith nods, and Lance leaves slowly, taking out his armor on the way.

“I should go too,” Coran comes closer. “If you need anything, just press the button on the side of the bed and I’ll come right up.”

“Thanks, Coran.”

Shiro lowers himself into the chair next to the bed where Lance had been.

“I can stay if you want me to,” Shiro offers, after Coran is gone. Keith shifts in the mattress, trying to adjust the position of his leg, but everything still feels uncomfortable. He sighs.

“It’s late,” Keith mumbles tiredly, eyes already drooping, “you should get some sleep as well.”

“I can stay until you fall asleep,” Shiro shrugs, “shouldn’t take too long with the painkillers Coran gave you.”

“Hm. Hope not.”

It takes two minutes until he’s fast asleep, and Shiro tucks him in with a tired smile, before leaving.

*

Keith wakes up the next morning with the sound of the doors sliding open.

Surprisingly, his leg feels a little better, just an annoying dull ache to remind him of his predicament. 

“Hey, team leader,” Lance strides in, holding a plate of cookies, “how’s the leg?”

“Broken,” Keith answers sarcastically, propping himself up on his elbows. He rubs his eyes and brings his arm back to adjust his pillow, in order to be sitting up.

Lance winces at the remark, setting the plate on the bedside table. “Grumpy today, aren’t we? Does it hurt?”

“Not as much as yesterday, no.”

“Hm,” Lance considers thoughtfully, “how long until you’re up and around again?”

Keith sighs and leans back, closing his eyes. “Coran says once we get the ultranium, it should take about four days to get the cryopods to work again.”

“Ah, it’s not that bad,” Lance shrugs, “you get a little vacation week.”

Keith scoffs, pointing at himself, voice still rough from sleep. “Is this what you call vacation?!”

Lance holds his hands up in apology. “Alright, alright, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Are those for me?” Keith asks softly, pointing at the plate. Lance pick it up again with a smile.

“Yeah. Hunk is kinda busy with some reparations, but he made you these and asked me to bring them.”

Keith accepts the plate and takes one cookie. “They’re good. I gotta tell Hunk to make more of these.”

Lance laughs. “Yeah, he said he found a cool ingredient on Olkarion that’s very similar to cinnamon, so he’s trying out lots of new stuff. Yesterday he was actually-“

The alarms are blaring.

“W- What – something’s wrong-“

Keith looks around desperately, the lights on the ship going red.

“Paladins, we’re under attack! There’s a Galra fleet heading to our trajectory. Get to your lions!”

“Damn it…” Lance mumbles, getting up quickly. “Sorry, Keith, I gotta go-“

“No, wait!” Keith yells, making Lance look back. “I can – I can help-“

“Just stay in bed. It’s gonna be okay.”

*

_“Pidge, look out!”_

_“Guys, there are a couple on my tail now… I can shake them, but there’s more coming-“_

_“Lance!”_

_“I think we need to form Voltron, we’re not gonna be able to fight them like this…”_

_“Well, we can’t right now, we’re gonna have to deal with-“_

_“Aaah!”_

Keith punches the mattress.

He lowers his head closer to his helmet, hearing the others’ voices, and for a moment, he almost feels ready to throw it against a wall.

Instead, he puts it on, takes a deep breath… and swings his right leg out of the bed.

With his hands, he lifts up his left thigh, kicking the pillows back with his other foot, and slowly moves it out of the bed as well.

His team needs him.

He just needs to leave this bed.

He looks around, searching for something he could grab onto to reach the hangar… and sure enough there’s a pair of something similar to crutches leaning against one of the cupboards next to the door.

Swallowing, he lets himself slide out of the bed, his right foot touching the floor first, and then the left. He attempts some hesitant steps, hopping on his good leg, as the other protests and throbs with the added weight of the cast.

Eventually, he gets to the crutches, shaking with pain and exhaustion. But the screaming from the comms hasn’t stopped, so he grabs the crutches and keeps making his way to the hangar.

He briefly wonders how ridiculous he looks right now, red helmet on his head, red pajamas, left leg encased in a cast and barefoot, hobbling towards the black lion, but he quickly pushes it to the back of his mind.

There’s something much more important that requires his attention, whether he looks ridiculous or not.

Black almost doesn’t let him in when he arrives, jaws closed and hesitant posture.

“They need me. Please.”

The lion opens up, and Keith slowly goes inside, gasping in relief when he finally gets to the cockpit, plopping over his chair, crutches thrown to the side.

He flies Black outside to join the others. Apparently, the battle moved a little away from the Castle, so he flies closer, as fast as he can.

“The Black lion left the hangar!?”

Coran’s voice is heard through the comms, incredulous.

“What?!” Follows Shiro, from the bridge.

 Keith can see the others and rushes in. There’s no time to waste.

“Guys, I’m here,” Keith says, a little strain in his voice, “let’s form Voltron.”

“Wha - Keith?!” Shiro stutters, dumbfounded. “What the hell are you doing??”

“How did you get out here?!” Lance asks.

“Uh, guys, now’s really not the time for questions,” Pidge says, “if Keith’s here we really should form Voltron.”

“What do you think you’re doing, Keith?!” Shiro sounds angrier now, but Keith shakes his head.

“I’m doing my job,” he answers, “Form Voltron!”

One thing Keith forgot to consider from the moment he left the infirmary bed was that the lions had pedals.

That wouldn’t have been a problem, of course, if his left leg wasn’t broken, and if his left pedal wasn’t the speeding one.

So, in favor of getting rid of the Galra fighters, he twists his hips to the left, using his right foot to press on the left pedal.

“Three incoming on the left!” Lance yells, and Green shoot out a string of vines to immobilize the ships.

This fight is quite intense, and Keith is doing his best to ignore the strain he’s putting on his broken leg for now. That’s a problem he’ll have to deal with later.

“Okay, only those five over there, and we’re done! The main ship is retreating-“

“Not if we catch him first.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Keith,” Lance advises, “all of this has already been an emergency situation. I say we get outta here ASAP.”

“No,” Keith grits his teeth, “we can still get him.”

Voltron speeds up to the Galra cruiser, sword in hand.

Keith presses his left pedal the hardest he can, despite his awkward posture. They just need to get this one ship, and the day is done.

As Voltron’s sword swings right through the middle of the ship, they see its ion canon activate.

“ _Retreat_!”

Before anyone can turn back around, the cruiser explodes.

But the canon isn’t disabled quick enough.

It hits Voltron in the chest, making it topple backwards, and then even more with the explosion.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, with everyone steady in their seats, and used to being banged around in battle.

But Keith’s posture is everything but stable.

“Damnit!!” Pidge yells. “Keith!”

When he’s hit first, he tries to stand up and steady himself somehow, but he’s thrown backwards with the explosion outside, and everything goes black.

* 

Shiro stomps through the hangar, walking into Black, glaring at Keith on the floor with a disapproving look.

Keith lowers his face, hiding.

There’s no way he can get out of here on his own, not with his leg hurting like this, but he knows exactly what Shiro will say, and the less he sees of his face, the better.

“Hunk!” Shiro calls out, turning his face away, “gonna need some help.”

“Coming,” Hunk’s voice sounds from outside, his steps echoing through the ramp.

Hunk steps in and stops, looking at Keith.

“Aww man… you really should have stayed in bed…”

Shiro walks closer, with Hunk following him, and Shiro seems to stop for a moment, assessing how exactly they could carry Keith out without hurting him further. Shiro resorts to carefully lifting him up by the armpits, and once he’s upright, he and Hunk support Keith on each side to carry him out.

Keith barely looks up during the whole walk back to the infirmary, but when he does at one point, Shiro’s angry and disappointed face sting enough for him to keep looking down. 

 *

As it turns out, the fall was enough for the spiral fracture in his tibia to worsen dramatically. Needless to say, Shiro still looks pissed off while Coran is re doing the cast. Keith lays back and closes his eyes. His leg hurts a lot more, even with painkillers, and even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he could really use some comfort right about now. He’s not a fan of asking for company or help, but he would be lying if he said he doesn’t appreciate the others taking care of him when he’s in pain. 

When Coran leaves, possibly sensing the tension between him and Shiro, being way more observant than most of them gave him credit for, Keith is all alone with Shiro.

“The only reason I’m not yelling at you right now is because you actually saved the day somehow,” Shiro sighs.

Keith stares at his cast, slightly bulkier than the previous one. He can’t remember much of the battle right now, urgency stealing all his memories, but he can’t imagine doing it all over again feeling like this. 

But he still stands by his reasoning. Hadn’t he gone in the battle, and maybe things would have gone really badly. The lions are sturdy on their own, but they’re not always enough.

“Then I made the right choice.”

“I don’t feel great validating your self-sacrificing instincts, but yeah. You did,” Shiro admits, walking closer to sit next to Keith.

Keith keeps staring at his lap. Somehow, this doesn’t feel like a victory.

“Then why were you so angry just now?”

“I wasn’t angry. I just worry,” Shiro explains, “you know I always do. And now your leg is worse, I – I wish I could have done something.”

“It’s not that bad,” Keith shrugs, “and the pods should be online soon, right?”

Shiro nods. “In a week or so. But in the meantime, Allura said she would wormhole us to somewhere safer. That way we can all take a little break and not worry about the Galra attacking while we don’t have the five lions. And while you rest.”

Keith sighs. He does hate being in bed with nothing to do, but he can’t deny the relief he feels at the prospect of resting for a while. “Yeah. That’s probably for the best. It’s not like I can do much like this.”

With Shiro’s help, he moves to his bed a few hours later, and takes a long nap in the afternoon. After all the adrenaline is gone from the fight earlier, his body is really starting to hurt. It feels like he took a serious beating, and even sitting up in his bed is difficult, his muscles weak and drawn out. 

The others come check on him soon enough, since they’re in a peaceful quadrant, and Keith appreciates their company, but it’s getting harder and harder to just lay down and do nothing. His natural restlessness is growing bigger, even though he doesn’t really have much energy to spare. It feels like his own body is confusing about what it wants, and it just frustrates him.

Shiro checks on him frequently, and stays with him for a while. Keith feels a little pathetic laying down like this with Shiro and the others just hovering around him, but it’s not like he can sit up comfortably. Every time he does, his leg starts hurting worse, and the sitting position seems to drawn him out even more. 

“You’re tired,” Shiro observes suddenly. Keith had tried to keep focus on what Shiro was saying, but, slowly, the exhaustion has started to seep in his bones. He closes his eyes with a grimace. 

“Sorry, Shiro.”

Shiro shakes his head. “Don‘t be. Does your leg hurt?” He moves from where he sits sideways to Keith on the mattress, to a spot next to the pillow, to be closer to him. 

Keith nods. “Yeah.”

“Then just rest, okay? Hunk is probably coming soon with dinner, so just hang on for a bit. You haven’t eaten much today… Then you can go to sleep. You need it.”

Keith curls up in himself tighter, letting Shiro run his fingers through his hair gently. It’s soothing, and it gives him something to focus on besides the throbbing in his leg and the body ache. 

Hunk arrives shortly after, with a bowl of food goo and some pink alien fruit. Shiro must have warned him right away, because he comes in with light steps and speaks in a low voice. 

“Hey, dude,” he greets gently, placing the tray of food on the bedside table. “How are you doing?”

“Kinda tired,” Keith croaks out, as he sits up against the headboard. 

When he’s almost done with his bowl of food goo, Pidge and Lance peek with their heads from outside the door.

“Is he still awake?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Shiro says with a smile. “You can come in.”

“Hey, Keith. Pretty rough day, huh?” Lance chuckles, sitting next to Keith’s leg. 

Keith shrugs, pushing his bowl of food away.

“Alright, you should probably sleep now,” Shiro decides, getting up. “Come on guys, he’s really tired.”

“You’ll be okay, Keith?” Pidge asks, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

Keith nods, his heart warming. He had felt bad for worrying Pidge earlier, so he tries to assure her the best he can. “Just need to rest. Don’t worry.”

“Ah, you’re gonna have to let me draw on that cast, man,” Lance laughs. “It’s so big! It’s like begging to be drawn on.”

“What if he wants to leave it like this?” Hunk suggests, picking up the food tray from Keith’s lap back onto the table. “You know, Lance, some people like their casts untouched. Especially by your weird doodles.”

“That’s just no fun,” Lance argues, patting Keith’s foot carefully. “Besides, he’s only like this for like, a week tops? And Pidge still has those markers we found in the storage room.”

“Yeah, we could use those,” Pidge smiles.

“ _If_ Keith doesn’t mind.” Shiro points out.

“Hey Keith, do you - oh.”

“He’s out.”

Keith is fast asleep, arms still crossed against his chest, soft snores coming out of his mouth, a peaceful look on his face.

“Yeah, I think that’s our cue,” Shiro says. “Come on. We should go to bed too. It’s been a long day.”


End file.
